Hot Topics:

John Gerstle, ousted from Boulder's Planning Board, seeks return as candidates apply for city boards, commissions

City Council will interview candidates between Thursday and March 19, then make appointments March 20

By Alex Burness

Staff Writer

Posted:
03/07/2018 09:00:50 PM MST

Updated:
03/09/2018 02:03:05 PM MST

Boulder City Council candidate John Gerstle looks at results on Evan Freirich's cellphone during an election night watch party at the Hotel Boulderado in Boulder in November 2017. (Jeremy Papasso / Staff Photographer)

His application is sure to prompt some discussion when the City Council, in the coming days, interviews 61 listed candidates who've applied to serve on various boards and commissions, then makes appointments March 20.

On top of those 61, whose applications span 13 different boards and commissions, another 34 people are set to interview for the new Housing Advisory Board, which the council created in the last few weeks. City officials said during a council meeting earlier this week that they'd never seen such enthusiasm for a single board.

So huge, relatively, is the interest in the Housing Advisory Board that its 34 applicants are followed by the Environmental Advisory Board with eight applicants, and the Planning Board, which had the third-most applicants with eight.

Some boards and commissions, such as those for the Colorado Chautauqua Association and Beverage Licensing, saw only two or three applicants.

Meanwhile, the city is still searching for applicants to six boards and commissions that have vacancies. Boulder is recruiting applicants through March 19 for those six, which are:

• Boulder Junction Access District-Parking Commission

• Boulder Junction Access District-Travel Demand Management (TDM)

• Boulder Urban Renewal Authority

Advertisement

• Downtown Management Commission

• Landmarks Board

• University Hill Commercial Area Management Commission

Gerstle

The City Council that declined to reappoint him has a vastly different makeup than it did a year ago. Gerstle ran for City Council in the fall as part of a five-candidate slate, and all won but him.

The council now includes the four victors — Mirabai Nagle, Sam Weaver, Mary Young and Cindy Carlisle — plus Lisa Morzel and Mayor Suzanne Jones, who were in the minority that wanted to reappoint him last year.

By not reappointing Gerstle, the previous City Council sparked considerable outrage among his like-minded politicos in the PLAN-Boulder County sphere.

The Planning Board is seen by most as the most influential of Boulder's roughly two dozen boards and commissions, since its members hold voting power on key regional planning matters and are tasked with approving, or not, various development proposals.

The idea for this board came from Morzel, the longtime councilwoman who will be term-limited in 2019. She tried for years to drum up energy for such a board, which she envisions as a vehicle for the public disentanglement of complex housing development issues that are very often at the root of local controversies related to growth.

To start, the board will have five voting members. The council agreed that seven voting members would be ideal, but only two of the city's boards and commissions have seven members, and those two have that exception spelled out in the charter.

So, in order to get the board to have seven members, the council would need voter approval on a charter change. Council members agreed to seek that approval in November.

A wide diversity of applicants turned up in the Housing Advisory Board's pile, including the underrepresented populations of renters and students.

Council schedule

The council will open its candidate interviews on Thursday, with applicants for the Transportation Advisory Board, Environmental Advisory Board, Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, Water Resources Advisory Board and Library Commission all coming in between 6 and 8:20 p.m.

On Tuesday, the council will interview applicants for the Beverage Licensing Authority, Board of Zoning Adjustment, Colorado Chautauqua Association and Design Advisory Board between 6 and 7 p.m.

On March 15, the council will interview applicants for the Planning Board, Human Relations Commission, Arts Commission and Open Space Board of Trustees between 6 and 8:10 p.m.

Housing Advisory Board applicants get their own interview date on March 19. They'll interview in groups of five and six between 6 and 9:10 p.m.

All interviews will take place in the council chambers at 1777 Broadway, as will the appointments on March 20.

The Boulder alt-country band gives its EPs names such as Death and Resurrection, and its songs bear the mark of hard truths and sin. But the punk energy behind the playing, and the sense that it's all in good fun, make it OK to dance to a song like "Death." Full Story